State budget cuts could impact Dana residents with tainted wells

Published: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, June 11, 2013 at 8:40 p.m.

Dana residents faced a foe they never saw coming when state testing revealed the water they drank for years was poisoned by an old, penetrating pesticide. Now they face a new threat, as state lawmakers grapple with budgets that could kill funding sources for their relief.

The North Carolina Rural Center, staffed with executives previously appointed by Democrats, would be dismantled and reorganized by the Republican-majority Senate. The change leaves rural needs that might be funded this year — including $300,000 of the proposed $600,000 city water line extension to the affected homeowners in Dana — in limbo.

Relief will not come fast enough for residents along Academy Road and Meadow Woods Drive. For at least six months, they have lived with the knowledge that their mountain well water isn’t safe for consumption. Families in 24 homes have been told to limit their showers to five minutes or less.

Now, they learn the largest grant they’ve been waiting on before construction begins may not come.

Paula Janes, who’s well tested 55 times over the state’s standard for the outlawed pesticide dieldrin, asked her neighbors at a community meeting Monday night if they would object to the city proceeding with construction without the grants.

We could split the costs, she said. A frustrated silence filled the room as the group pondered what to do next.

Hendersonville City Utilities Director Lee Smith said they should know about the Rural Center funding on June 26. If the $300,000 grant is approved and funded in the center’s current fiscal year, a wipeout of state support may not affect the project.

“I know it’s always one more date and I can’t imagine what it feels like,” Landon Davidson, regional supervisor of the N.C. Division of Water Quality’s groundwater section, told the group at the community meeting.

He said proposed state budgets could also impact the future of N.C. Department of Commerce Community Development Block Grants. Residents were banking on that to cover hook-up fees and other costs of the waterline project.

Without it, residents would be asked to pay at least $1,725 to hook up to the new water lines. The fee includes an $800 system development charge that the city asks all new customers to pay. The charge is rolled over into the city’s cash reserve fund to use for future upgrades and expansions of the city’s water and sewer system to accommodate growth.

The block grant, if awarded, is anticipated to cover all tap-on costs and fees, except the system development charge.

Grants may have a chance

Although the fate of funding is uncertain, the N.C. League of Municipalities suspects block grants won’t be hit too hard.

The group of nonpartisan advocates of more than 540 towns across the state said the Senate and House budgets do not cut funding for block grants. They only limit the purposes for which the grants can be used by non-entitlement cities to economic development and infrastructure. Hendersonville is an entitlement city. The grant would be asked to cover an infrastructure project.

Davidson encouraged them to contact their legislators.

“It can make a difference sometimes,” he said.

Janes read a letter at the meeting pleading for the survival of the Rural Center and block grants. She planned to send it to Gov. Pat McCrory Tuesday, affixed with a petition of her neighbors’ signatures.

The city of Hendersonville applied for a $100,000 grant through the Appalachian Regional Commission after it was given the go-ahead by the agency in an April prequalification. The costs for Dana residents is also partially covered by Bernard Allen Memorial Emergency Drinking Water funds, which would cover $160,000 to up to a third of the project’s total cost.

Smith estimates the project may cost less than $600,000 if the water line is not extended the full length of Academy Road and only to affected homes down East Hill Drive, Emerald Lane and Meadow Woods Drive.

‘Volatile compound’

Brett Laverty, a hydrogeologist with the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Aquifer Protection Section, said they have sampled 75 wells in the neighborhood.

Twenty-four of those wells tested above the state’s standard for dieldrin and 24 tested above the standard for heptachlor epoxide, a pesticide used to kill termites in homes and insects on corn crops.

But a new “volatile compound” reared its head in water testing this year. The chemical, tetrachloroethylene, often used in dry cleaning, is heavier than water but was found in two wells at levels safely below state and federal standards.

Laverty said that their “investigation is not done.”

More sampling, including soil sampling, will be conducted to determine the concentration of the chemical and whether or not it will pose any challenges to engineers. In high concentrations, tetrachloroethylene can penetrate the 2-inch polyethylene lines used to service homes.

Until the waterline extension is complete, Laverty said they will be resampling wells every four to six months to check levels and try to get an idea of which way the groundwater is moving. He said they will try to complete their volatile compound investigation by the end of the summer. Soil sampling is slated to behin in July.

<p>Dana residents faced a foe they never saw coming when state testing revealed the water they drank for years was poisoned by an old, penetrating pesticide. Now they face a new threat, as state lawmakers grapple with budgets that could kill funding sources for their relief.</p><p>The North Carolina Rural Center, staffed with executives previously appointed by Democrats, would be dismantled and reorganized by the Republican-majority Senate. The change leaves rural needs that might be funded this year — including $300,000 of the proposed $600,000 city water line extension to the affected homeowners in Dana — in limbo.</p><p>Relief will not come fast enough for residents along Academy Road and Meadow Woods Drive. For at least six months, they have lived with the knowledge that their mountain well water isn't safe for consumption. Families in 24 homes have been told to limit their showers to five minutes or less. </p><p>Now, they learn the largest grant they've been waiting on before construction begins may not come.</p><p>Paula Janes, who's well tested 55 times over the state's standard for the outlawed pesticide dieldrin, asked her neighbors at a community meeting Monday night if they would object to the city proceeding with construction without the grants. </p><p>We could split the costs, she said. A frustrated silence filled the room as the group pondered what to do next. </p><p>Hendersonville City Utilities Director Lee Smith said they should know about the Rural Center funding on June 26. If the $300,000 grant is approved and funded in the center's current fiscal year, a wipeout of state support may not affect the project.</p><p>“I know it's always one more date and I can't imagine what it feels like,” Landon Davidson, regional supervisor of the N.C. Division of Water Quality's groundwater section, told the group at the community meeting. </p><p>He said proposed state budgets could also impact the future of N.C. Department of Commerce Community Development Block Grants. Residents were banking on that to cover hook-up fees and other costs of the waterline project. </p><p>Without it, residents would be asked to pay at least $1,725 to hook up to the new water lines. The fee includes an $800 system development charge that the city asks all new customers to pay. The charge is rolled over into the city's cash reserve fund to use for future upgrades and expansions of the city's water and sewer system to accommodate growth.</p><p>The block grant, if awarded, is anticipated to cover all tap-on costs and fees, except the system development charge.</p><p>Grants may have a chance</p><p>Although the fate of funding is uncertain, the N.C. League of Municipalities suspects block grants won't be hit too hard. </p><p>The group of nonpartisan advocates of more than 540 towns across the state said the Senate and House budgets do not cut funding for block grants. They only limit the purposes for which the grants can be used by non-entitlement cities to economic development and infrastructure. Hendersonville is an entitlement city. The grant would be asked to cover an infrastructure project.</p><p>Davidson encouraged them to contact their legislators.</p><p>“It can make a difference sometimes,” he said.</p><p>Janes read a letter at the meeting pleading for the survival of the Rural Center and block grants. She planned to send it to Gov. Pat McCrory Tuesday, affixed with a petition of her neighbors' signatures.</p><p>The city of Hendersonville applied for a $100,000 grant through the Appalachian Regional Commission after it was given the go-ahead by the agency in an April prequalification. The costs for Dana residents is also partially covered by Bernard Allen Memorial Emergency Drinking Water funds, which would cover $160,000 to up to a third of the project's total cost. </p><p>Smith estimates the project may cost less than $600,000 if the water line is not extended the full length of Academy Road and only to affected homes down East Hill Drive, Emerald Lane and Meadow Woods Drive.</p><p>'Volatile compound'</p><p>Brett Laverty, a hydrogeologist with the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources' Aquifer Protection Section, said they have sampled 75 wells in the neighborhood. </p><p>Twenty-four of those wells tested above the state's standard for dieldrin and 24 tested above the standard for heptachlor epoxide, a pesticide used to kill termites in homes and insects on corn crops.</p><p>But a new “volatile compound” reared its head in water testing this year. The chemical, tetrachloroethylene, often used in dry cleaning, is heavier than water but was found in two wells at levels safely below state and federal standards. </p><p>Laverty said that their “investigation is not done.”</p><p>More sampling, including soil sampling, will be conducted to determine the concentration of the chemical and whether or not it will pose any challenges to engineers. In high concentrations, tetrachloroethylene can penetrate the 2-inch polyethylene lines used to service homes.</p><p>Until the waterline extension is complete, Laverty said they will be resampling wells every four to six months to check levels and try to get an idea of which way the groundwater is moving. He said they will try to complete their volatile compound investigation by the end of the summer. Soil sampling is slated to behin in July.</p><p>Reach Weaver at emily.weaver@blueridgenow.com or 828-694-7867.</p>